Our use of cookies

Options

Back

We use cookies to help our site work, to understand how it is used, and to tailor the adverts presented on our site. By clicking “Accept” below, you agree to us doing so. You can read more in our
cookie notice. Or, if you do not agree, you can click Manage below to access other choices.

You can choose whether or not to accept advertising cookies from our advertising partner Google using the buttons below. If you choose not to, you will still see adverts on our site, because they help us to fund it, but those adverts will not be tailored to you. You can also choose not to accept session and analytics cookies through the settings in your browser, but some parts of our site might stop working as a result. You can also learn more in our
cookie notice.

Ex-Liverpool striker Peter Crouch spoke to the Liverpool Echo about his life and times - and the gift he bought Rafa Benitez

Share

by Molly Burke

14:48, 12 Sep 2018Updated14:51, 12 Sep 2018

Newcastle's internationals have racked up some serious miles...

Peter Crouch has revealed the risky secret Santa present he bought for Rafa Benitez when the pair were at Liverpool.

Former Reds striker Crouch sat in on the Liverpool Echo’s podcast recently as he looked to promote his new book ‘How to Be a Footballer’.

The 37-year-old went on to talk about his three year stay with Liverpool, his admiration for Steven Gerrard and even joked about the hilarious but risky Secret Santa present he gifted his then-boss Benitez.

Crouch signed for Benitez’s side in 2005 and went onto win the FA Cup and reach a Champions League final under the Spaniard, with Benitez having already won the European trophy the season before.

“It was around the same time that he started wearing a leather jacket, which the lads were quite keen to take the mick out of.

“So I bought him a new leather jacket as well as Jose Mourinho’s book, about how to win the league. It was the time of the big, big rivalry between them.

“I don’t know how well it went down with Rafa... until now I don’t think he knows it was me!”

The Benitez and Mourinho rivalry begun the season prior to Crouch’s arrival, when the pair faced off on five occasions throughout the campaign.

Mourinho’s Chelsea were victorious in both league meetings as well as in the League Cup final but Benitez got his revenge when his Liverpool side beat the Blues for a place in the Champions League final - which they went on to win.

Read More

Over the next couple of years Mourinho and Benitez became all too familiar with the other, finding themselves drawn against each other in the FA Cup semi-final, the Community Shield, a Champions League semi-final and the Champions League group stages.

The pair’s return to English football with Chelsea and Newcastle saw their rivalry spark into life again, but it perhaps isn’t quite as fierce as it once was.